Flatiron



INVENTOR. M//Ln /'OSLL-vej Ik .l 7710EA/ 5 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W- F. osLER, JR

FLATIRON dill/'M 13T-J4 Aug. l, 1950 Filed Sept. l2, 1946 Aug. l, 1950 w. F. osLER, JR

FLATIRON Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. l2, 1946 n f ZZ /o ATTORN YS Patented Aug. 1, 1950 UNITED S TATESm ilA'T ENT 1 OFFICE 2,517,229 rLafrIRoN Wilbur F. Osler, Jr., Leonia, N.,J.

` Application September 12, 1946, Serial 696,408

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to ironing devices, and has special reference to flat-irons and ironing-boards of the type having magnetic means for increasing the pressure of the iron on the board. :i:

The principal object of the invention is to provide devices of this character that are of simple, and durable construction, and convenient and eiiicient in use.

The invention is illustrated, by way of exampleim.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 2 and 31 of the drawings, the fiat-iron is provided with a base 2 of magnetic material and a handle 4, and the ironing-board has a plurality of magnets 6 mounted therein so as to effect the desired magnetic attraction between the iron and ther board. The iron may be heated by an electric heating element mounted in its base 2 and connected with terminal posts or studs 5.

In accordance with the present invention, an abutment member 8 of brass or other non-magnetic material is arranged. in a recess in the underside of the flat-iron base 2. This abutment member E is provided with upstanding pins l that are mounted to slide in apertures in the base, and with a vertically extending postor rod" I2 which may extend upwardly through an opening in the rear part of the handle 4. The upper end of this rod l2 is pivotally connected, by means of a rivet or pin, with the shorter arm of a lever ll pivoted on a pin it in the handle. The\ lever i4 extends into a recess in the underside of the horizontal part of the handle, and the outer or longer arm of said lever lll projects a distance below the underside of the handleso as to enable it to be conveniently engaged by` the lingers of the user of the iron.

With this construction, upon pressing the longer arm of the lever lll upwardly, said lever acts through the rod l? and the abutment "8 to tilt the rear end of the iron upwardly lfrom the board. Such' tilting of thefflat-iron breaks the holding action of the magnets on the iron so as to enable `the operator to easily lift the iron from the ironing-board. Thus it will be apparent that due to the leverage connection, irrespective of theA pull of the magnets the operatorV may easily and quickly Vrelease the iron therefrom and lift the iron from the ironing-board. Upon releasing the lever M the magnetic attraction between the flat-iron and theboard may again be established upon placing the iron on the board. It will be noted that the natural act of lifting the iron would cause theinitial upward pressure of the ngerstoact onithe long arm of lever lli to tilt the iron.

The l magnets l5l are preferably permanent horseshoe magnets.` As' shown, Athey have their poles or ends'extending upwardly through apertures I8 intheironingboardr which is :made of non-magnetic material,`th'e"ehd surface of the magnets being substantiallyeiilush withvthetop surface of the boardg" The board may'be provided with 'the usual fabric covering 2U which extends over the upper endsoff: the apertures i8" andthe ends ofthe magnets.` f l f 'i' In the illustratedv ironing-board the magnets are mounted ona supporting plate-22 of nonrnagnetic material, `they `being secured in recesses inthe plate `by any suitable means such asby straps 24. The'supporting 'plate 22 isadaptedto `'be adjusted vertically to move the upper'end surfaces of the magnets into the plane ofv or varying distances slightly belowthe top 'surface ofthe board. yToprovide for thisythe supporting plate 22 is supported by" means roisuita'ltlle adjusting screws 26 whereby uponturning the screws` the magnets maybe'moved `vertically as desired.`

By thus `adjusting the vertical position of 'the magnets, the `magnetic pull of theimagnets on the flat-iron may" beeasily increased :and decreased, and thus any desired degree `of pressure may be employed without the use'of heavy flatirons.

In the form of flat-iron illustrated `in Figs. 4 and 5; thehandle of the'iron'is' utilized 'as the lever for tilting theiron. l l l l As shown,l the rear end `portion of the handle 28 is provided'with a downwardly opening recess 3l?. Extending into this recess is a `post 32 having its lower end secured to the base of the iron and having a pivot pin 34 at its upperfend upon which the handle 28 is pivoted.

Also, extending upwardly into the recess is a rod 36 which haslits `lower end secured to an abutment plate 38 that corresponds'to'theabutment plate 8 of the form of iron first described. The upper end of this rod 36 is pivotally connected by a pin 40 with the handle 28, the pin being spaced a distance rearwardly of the pivot pin 34.

The front end of the handle 28 when the handle is in its normal ironing position as shown in full lines in Fig. 4 rests upon the top of the base of the iron. In order to firmly hold theiiront end of the handle from lateral movementl while the iron is in use, the end of the handle is provided with a downwardly opening conical recess 42 which, when the handle is in ironing position,

nts over a conical projection 44 on the baseof.

the iron.

With this construction, when it isdesired to remove the iron from the magnetic ironing-board, the natural act of lifting the iron swings the handle 28 upwardly and thus acts through the post 32 and the abutment member 38 to tilt the base of the iron so as to break the magnetic attraction. Upon replacing the iron on the ironing-board the weight'of the iron retracts the abutment member 38, and through the rod 36 returns thehandle toits normal ironing position.

Thus in this construction as well as in the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the natural act of lifting the iron effects they desired tilting thereof, and upon replacing the iron on the ironing-board the weight of the iron serves to restore the parts to their lnormal positions.

As will be evident to those skilled in the art, my invention permitsvarious modifications without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

As` apparent from the drawings, in' the form shown in Fig. 2 the movement of the lever I4 in ax direction to tilt the iron is limited by the engagement of the top side A6, ofthe lever with the bottom wall 48 of the clearance recess in the handle 4; The movement of the handle in the oppositedirection is limited by the engagement of l,the Vabutment or shoe 8 with `the bottom wall50 of therecess inthe base 2 of the iron in which the shoe is received. In the form shown in Fig. 4, the turning movement of thehandle in a: directionV to tilt the iron is limited by the engagement of the rear end or heel 52 of the handle 28 with the rear end extension 54 on the base of the iron. The movement of the handle- 28 inthe opposite direction `is'limited by the engagement of the abutment member or shoe 38 with the bottom wall 580i the recess in the base of the iron which receives the shoe'38, and by the engagement of the underside 58 of the front end ofthe handle with the top surface 68 of the front end of the base of the iron. It will be apparent that in both constructions Aanyother suitable arrangement of stops may be provided whereby when the iron rhas been tilted to a predetermined degree further upward pull on the lever arm M or handle 28 results in bodily lifting of the iron from the ironing-board, and upon release of the lever armY I4 o1-the handle 28, these parts are returned `totheir initial position with the shoes 8 and 38 respectively retracted.

This application is a' continuation in part of my pending 'application Ser. No. 502,595, filed Sgpember 16, 1943, abandoned September 13, 1 e

What I claim. is:

l. A fiat-iron for use in connection withan ironing-board, comprising a base, a handle for the iron, a pivotal connection between the handle and said'basehaving its axis arranged transversely of the handle and positioned rearwardly of the portion of the handle normally grasped by the hand of the user in ironing, stops or respectively limiting the pivotal movements of the handle toward and from its normal ironing position whereby in lifting the iron from the ironingboard the forward arm of the handle is initially swung upwardly to the limit of the movement of the handle in said direction, an abutment member of non-magnetic material adapted to be moved above and below the bottom surface of said base, means for guiding the abutment member during its said movements, and connections between the abutment member and said handle for thus moving said abutment member during said pivotal movements of the handle respectively.

2. A flat-iron for use in connection with an ironing-board, comprising a base, a handle having its rear portion pivotally connected with the base whereby the handle may be swung toward and from its normal ironing position, stops for respectively limiting said pivotal movements o the handle, an abutment member of non-magnetic material adapted to be moved above and below the bottom surface of the base, means for guiding the abutment member during its said movements, and connections between the handle and the abutment member for thus moving said member during said movements of the handle.

3. A nat-iron comprising a base, a support on the base, a lever extending longitudinally between the heel and toe of the iron having,T its rear portion pivotally connected with said support to turn in opposite directions about a horizontal axis, stops for limiting such turning of the handle, an abutment member of non-magnetic material adapted to be moved above and below the bottom surface or the base, means for guiding the abutment member during its said movements, a member having one end connected with said abutment member and its other end pivotally connected with said lever-at a point spaced rearwardly from the axis thereof whereby upon the user turning sai lever to move the forward arm thereof upwardly by applying a lifting force thereto the iron is raised from the ironing-board and when said arm is released by the user while the iron is on the board the parts are returned to their initial positions.

4. Ariat-iron for use in connection with an ironing-board, comprising a base, a handle for the iron, a lever pivoted on the handle between its ends with one arm thereof arranged to be engaged by the fingers beneath the handle, an abutment member of non-magnetic material adapted to be moved above and below the bottom surface of the base, means for guiding the abutment member during its said movements, connections between the abutment member and the other arm of said lever whereby when the iron is in ironing position on the board upon turning said lever in a direction to move said iirst mentioned arm upwardly the base is raised from the ironingboard, and stops for limiting the turning movement of said lever.

5. A nat-iron for use in connection with an ironing-board, comprising a base, a handle for the iron, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends to said handle having one arm arranged to be engaged by the lingers of the user vwhen grasping the handle to turn the lever in one direction, an abutment member of non-magnetic material adapted to be moved above and below the bottom surface of the base, means for guiding the abutment member during its said movements, connections between the abutment member and the other arm of said lever whereby when the iron is on the ironing-board upon turning the lever in said direction the iron is raised from the board and upon releasing the lever while the iron is on the board the parts are returned to their initial positions, and stops for limiting the turning movement of said lever.

6. A nat-iron comprising a base, a support mounted on the rear portion of the base, a lever having its rear portion pivotally mounted on said support with its forward arm spaced a distance above the base and arranged in position to enable a lifting force to be applied thereto by the fingers of the user to turn said lever to swing its said forward arm upwardly, an abutment member of non-magnetic material mounted in the rear portion of the base and adapted to be moved above and below the bottom surface of the base, a member connecting said abutment member with said lever at a point spaced rearwardly from the axis of the lever, whereby upon turning said lever in said direction the abutment member by engagement with the ironing-board causes the rear end of the iron to be raised so as to tilt the iron about the point of engagement of its forward end with the ironing-board, and when said forward arm is released while the iron is on the board, the parts are returned to their initial positions by the weight of the iron, stops for limiting the turning of the lever, and means for guiding the abutment member.

7. A flat-iron comprising a base having an upwardly extending support thereon, a handle for the iron pivotally connected near its rear end with said support for limited upward movement from its normal ironing position as the user applies a lifting lforce to the handle to lift the iron from an ironing-board, stops for thus limiting the movement of the handle, an abutment member of non-magnetic material mounted for vertical movement with relation to the bottom of the base having its upper end pvotally connected with the handle at a point spaced a distance to the rear of the point of pivotal connection of the handle with said support so as to cause the lower end of the abutment member to be projected below the bottom of the base during said upward movement of the handle, and means for thus guiding the abutment member.

WILBUR F. OSLER, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 949,351 Clayton Feb. 15, 1910 1,681,214 Blair Aug. 21, 1928 2,019,431 Myers et a1 Oct. 29, 1935 2,122,694 Muller 1 July 5, 1938 2,179,625 Groden Nov.. 14, 1939 2,224,896 Burian Dec. 17, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 23,260 Great Britain 1896 9,716 Great Britain 1902 

